Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Whilst this article [Link Below] mainly blames the politicians, the main issue it neglects to cover with regard to cleaner energy methods [Wind, Sun, Tides and Bio-Digesters] is that of the distortion that misaligned subsidies have.

The initial subsidy for Solar Photo-Voltaic [Solar PV] was so over-generous that a massive 'industry' of direct-selling organisations sprang up almost over-night. These panels soaked up so much subsidy that the scheme has been massively cut back - so who set the original subsidy at 44p per kWh? Way, way over the current retail price of electricity - and not into the best technology either.

Now efficiency of 'renewables' [cleaner technologies is a better description; and certainly not wood pellet burning technologies] is often slated as the reason whey they are not effective or efficient.

Now the photo below shows steam [yes STEAM] rising from the cooling towers [yes COOLING TOWERS - not Chimneys] - probably Drax with a total of 8 Cooling Towers, ARE DESIGNED TO WASTE AROUND 60% of the energy released from burning Coal or even wood pellets - its the engineering answer to "efficient energy production" [...of a large scale remote power station].

Power Station Cooling Towers Wasting 60% Heat

However the electricity generated under centralised power plants like this is rarely above 22% at the plug in your house. Some say as low as 11%.

This in-efficiency [in centralised power systems] could have been solved by utilising lots of smaller power plants, built close to towns and cities which would not necessitate Cooling Towers, as waste heat can be distributed to houses and industry - just like in Denmark. Its called de-centralised power or even embedded power where tiny street corner electricity and heat for distribution are generated. So these remote [centralised] power stations are part of our problem.

Embedded Power Islington

Tidal projects also suffer from 'pilot project issues' and unnecessarily high subsidies - so the technology is fine, the "power" is clean and there is zero fuel cost - so lets look into differing cost models and subsidy strategies - this is the problem - how to assist innovation.

Friday, 24 March 2017

Capacity Market results announced today mean dozens of industrial and local businesses will help keep the lights on at peak demand next winter and cut carbon through innovation in the demand response sector, the Association for Decentralised Energy said.

Reducing Energy Loads

Approximately 312 MW of carbon free turn-down demand response has been secured as part of the Transitional Arrangements auction, which is aimed at preparing and supporting this innovative sector for the main Capacity Market auction.

The auction, which cleared at £45 per kW on Wednesday, means businesses across the UK will earn just over £14m in revenue, helping them to manage their energy costs and boost their competitiveness simply by turning down or shifting non-critical processes. Examples of demand turn down include temporarily switching off unnecessary lighting, pumps and motors, while demand shifting is the practice of moving a business process to earlier or later in the day.

There is nearly 10GW of untapped business led demand response, including highly efficient combined heat and power, ready to support the UK’s energy security. To achieve this potential however, user led demand response must be able to access all markets, from the Capacity Market and Balancing Mechanism to the Wholesale Market and ancillary services market, on an equal footing with traditional generation.

ADE Director Dr Tim Rotheray said:

"Today’s results are returning value to energy users for helping keep the lights on, while also cutting emissions through zero carbon demand response. Instead of paying power stations to increase supply, businesses will be managing demand in innovative ways while meeting all their energy needs leading to a more efficient, more affordable and lower carbon system.

"This auction is designed to help lower costs and improve uptake of demand response so that this tool will play a key part of the future energy sector. The Transitional Arrangements are vital in supporting this innovative sector to grow, deliver Britain’s security of supply needs and ultimately help drive a more competitive demand response market."

Notes to editors:

Auction results
A total of 373 MW entered the Auction, of which 83.69% received Capacity Agreements for delivery in 2017/18.

Sunday, 26 April 2015

Energy efficiency can play a major role in addressing the multiple challenges of improving energy security, reducing the environmental impacts and reducing costs to consumers, as well as creating economic growth and jobs. We need to urgently develop the tools to wake up, what Angela Merkel recently referred to as,“the sleeping giant“.

The German Prime Minister’s reference has prompted the question how do we significantly scale-up energy efficiency? A scale-up of energy efficiency deployment requires an increase in demand, supply of products and services, and availability of financing. These preconditions need to occur across all sectors of the economy. Many companies in heavy industry claim they have invested in as much energy efficiency as they can because of the high costs associated with efficiency. However, opportunities still remain, both in retrofit and major process change.

Electric Natural Gas Buses: Cleaner AND Greener

In commercial transport there is a demand for greater energy efficiency but the main constraint is the equipment replacement cycle as energy use is largely locked in by vehicle choice. There is a lot of variation in demand in the commerce industry with large retailers typically carrying programmes that have produced good investment returns for many years. In smaller organisations there is a latent demand for energy efficiency but the constraints are more around lack of capacity. However, there is increasing recognition in non-domestic buildings of the potential to holistically retrofit buildings in a way that can produce energy savings of 30-80% but still little demand.

The Empire State Building, where savings of 38% were achieved with a three year payback period on the marginal capex has shown the art of the possible.

Empire State Building

Constraints include the well-known split of landlords’ and tenants’ incentives, the nature of commercial property financing and short term investor behaviour. Across all organisations there is a need to increase knowledge amongst decision makers as many opportunities to improve energy efficiency are still being missed because clients don’t know what can be done. Capacity and knowledge needs to be built from the board, through energy managers and down to the shop floor.

Unfortunately, housing demand is a more difficult issue. The Green Deal has a target of retrofitting 14 million homes, which implies a massive increase in demand for energy efficiency. Although most householders would prefer lower energy bills this is not the same as demanding an energy-efficiency retrofit. A retrofit implies disruption equivalent to having a major extension.

Energy efficiency is abstract and unlike an extension it is hard to enjoy or display. Very few people wake up and think of buying some energy efficiency, they are more likely to wake up and think of buying an object of desire such as a new car or a new computer. Making efficiency desirable is particularly difficult because of the level of disengagement that consumers have from their energy bills and suppliers, with bills largely seen as another form of unavoidable taxation.

The other aspect of demand for energy efficiency in households is behavioural change. Opower, a customer engagement platform for the utility industry, has produced measurable savings by giving consumers information about their own energy use compared to their neighbours usage, so called “neighbour power”. Onzo, a data and analytics service for utilities, has technology that can provide consumption data for individual appliances as well as the whole house. Impressive savings and reduction in peak loads have been achieved with this approach.

On the supply side we need to build capacity in several areas, particularly measurement and verification of savings (M&V), integrative design techniques, and supply of financing products. M&V should be an essential element of all energy efficiency projects.

The Empire State Building retrofit has shown the power of integrative design but these design techniques are still not widely used.

IR Image Showing Differing Heat Loss

Traditional component rather than system engineering design techniques are still the norm in practice and classroom. We need to increase the supply of architects and engineers trained in integrative design techniques.Financing for cars does not make people buy cars, and the same is true for energy efficiency. It does, however, enable them to overcome the barrier of upfront cost. Many different designs of energy efficiency financing techniques exist and in the USA there has been a flowering of innovation. Even in the US, however, the market remains tiny (c.$5bn) and not widely recognised by the financial sector. Only standardisation, such as we saw develop in the renewables industry, can lead to a mass finance market.

Sunday, 19 April 2015

Gabions are one of the crucial feature elements of dry land
landscape water harvesting design.

A gabion is a leaky rock dam wall
built in a wadi, valley canyon or water flow, at a point where there
would be a reasonable amount of water caught if there was a dam wall in
the same position, but the gabion instead leaks through the rocks,
slowly releasing a steady flow of water and retained moisture over time.

As the water is slowed down by a gabion, it drops its sediments,
organic materials, behind the rock wall.

Desert catchments are often
large and feature very infrequent rainfall events, and are an actively
eroding landscape that is continually being blown away, with sediments
either eroded or deposited by the wind if there are wind traps like
desert tree systems and forests, but also by water flows which are
usually strong and can carry large amounts of organic material and
sediments away with them.

A
gabion traps this material, because, as a principle of aqua dynamics,
the slowing of the water drops the material volume and quantities that
the velocity can carry. So this aqua-dynamic deposition system, placed
in a location that forms a large back-up silt field, retains
water-soaked silt enriched with organic materials, storing it away from
the sun, and acts as a giant sponge, holding the water for long periods
whilst slowly leaking it into the landscape.

A winter’s rainfall can be
harvested in a set of silt fields in a gabioned, wadi, canyon or a
desert valley that then release that water over the next few months.
These silt fields retain more rainfall each year, soaking in quicker
because they are already have dampened hydrology, building to a maximum
capacity on an average of 7 years.

In the photos I have included in this post, there is a documentation
of two gabions in a wadi in the Dead Sea valley that comes down to the
Dead Sea itself. I witnessed these gabions built in 2002 and have
visited this site many times since, often after winter rain, and have
seen residual water flows extending through the silt fields and down the
wadi for long periods of time — increasing each year.

During a PDC in
Jordan in Oct/Nov this year (2010), the students and I took a field trip
to examine these two wadi gabions and much to our surprise at the end
of an exceptionally hot summer with record temperatures the gabions were
releasing large flows of clean water through the silt traps.

Green
vegetation, although overgrazed by goats, was beginning to proliferate,
and there were even frogs and native freshwater crabs in the water.
These are exceptional features for regenerating life in the shaded
canyons and other potential locations in a desert system.

I’ve included one or two other photos from reference points around
the world where I have witnessed the dramatic effect of gabions that
have been used traditionally for productive yields. We can reverse
desertification by the use of these features and others I’ll be
reporting on in future posts.

My advice to you is to study and learn
about gabions, report in about good gabion systems, have fun installing
them and seeing the great beneficial results that will be obvious as a
comparison to the surrounding arid landscape!

Posted April 17, 2015 by Lauren Manning & filed under Water Conservation. Taken From Permaculture News Australia

THE CURRENT STATE OF CALIFORNIA’S UNPRECEDENTED DROUGHT

Startling Statistics

California is currently in its fourth year of a severe drought. The United States Drought Monitor estimates
that over 90 percent of California is currently experiencing “severe”
to “exceptional” drought conditions. For farmers, the increasing
scarcity of water has been devastating. According to the American Farmland Trust,
California is home to 27 million acres of cropland. Nine million of
those acres are irrigated farmlands, requiring a steady water supply.
Crops typically requiring regular irrigation include vegetables (1.1
million acres), orchards and vineyards (3.1 million acres), and forage
crops (1.7 million acres). Roughly 7 out of 10 irrigated farms in
California depend entirely, or at least in part, on surface water
allocated from state and federal projects. In 2014, farmers received
zero water allocations from federal projects and only one-fifth of the
water that they would normally receive from state water projects.The shortage of water for agriculture has forced many farmers to
fallow thousands of acres of their land in order to allocate what little
water they receive to producing a successful harvest. Some reports
estimate that in 2014 alone nearly half a million acres of California
farmland were fallowed as a result of the water shortage. Other farmers
have chosen to switch their crops to more drought-friendly varieties,
including GMO seed varieties designed to thrive in soil with lower
moisture content.

The Governor and Local Communities Take Action

Farmers have found some relief from favorable economic circumstances.
For example, decreasing fuel prices and a surge in American imports
have provided temporary relief from the crippling impact of the drought.
In many communities, residents have started sourcing their food from
local farmers and agricultural producers in an attempt to keep their
businesses going through these tough economic times. Some local grocers
are making an effort to source as much of their produce as they can from
local farms as opposed to importing fruits and vegetables from other
regions.The State of California has taken action to help soften the blow of a
fourth year of severe drought. On April 1, 2015, California Governor
Jerry Brown signed an Executive Order mandating
water restrictions for all California residents. This is the first time
in California’s history that a mandatory water restriction has been set
into place to combat drought-related issues. As part of the mandatory
water cuts, residents will be required to reduce their water consumption
by 25 percent, or face daily monetary fines. The executive order
exempts farmers from the new requirement, noting just how badly many
farmers have already been impacted.

INCREASES IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRICES

California: The Horn of Plenty

To truly comprehend the impact that California’s drought may have on
food prices, it is important to have an understanding of just how
crucial California’s agricultural industry is to the nation and the
world at large. Many people refer to California as the nation’s
breadbasket. The rich soil and ideal weather conditions make it some of
the most fertile planting soil in the world. It is no surprise,
therefore, that California produces 400 different types of agricultural
commodities and provides roughly half of the nation’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts. California is the nation’s leading producer of many food staples,
including avocados, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, grapes, tree nuts, and
dairy. According to a study
conducted by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center,
in 2013 California exported $4.16 billion worth of almonds and over $2.4
billion in dairy products. Other key California exports include wine,
tree nuts, grapes, rice, cotton, and beef. Overall, the California
Department of Food and Agriculture reports that California’s 77,900 farms earned over $46 billion for agricultural exports in 2013.

Produce Prices are Predicted to Increase as a Result of the Drought

The extent to which California’s drought will have an impact on
produce prices depends on the overall severity of the drought and how
the drought affects total crop yields. When it comes to produce, the
most critical concern during a drought is the diminishing groundwater
supply, which is typically needed to provide consistent irrigation to
fruit and vegetable crops. In response to a groundwater supply shortage,
many farmers choose to plant a smaller amount of a particular crop, or
to plant an entirely different crop that is more tolerant to drought
conditions.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture,
when it comes to fruits and vegetables, any production impacts that may
lead to price increases typically manifest at the supermarket shelves
within one month. Produce is highly perishable, meaning that farmers
cannot hold onto their produce until market prices are more favorable
and consumers are more willing to buy. Other factors affecting the price
of produce are labor wages, competitive imports, and fuel prices. As a consequence of the growing scarcity of water for agriculture,
the prices of fruits, vegetables, and other food products are expected
to increase. For many farmers, the increasing cost of water and
fallowing of fields requires them to raise the prices of the their crop
yields. How much of a price hike should consumers anticipate paying?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
reports, “[i]ncreases in retail prices for fresh fruits and vegetables
in 2014 were primarily driven by an increase in the prices for citrus
fruit.” Additionally, “[p]rices for fresh vegetables fell in 2014 after
seeing higher than average price increases in 2013.”These price increases will likely increase into 2015. USDA estimates
that during 2015 supermarket prices will increase an additional 2 to 3
percent over 2014 prices. In particular, fresh fruit prices should rise
between “2.5 to 3.5 percent and fresh vegetable prices 2.0 to 3.0
percent.” The USDA cautions, however, that California’s status as a
crucial food producer gives it “the potential to drive prices for fruit,
vegetables, dairy, and eggs up even further.” Ultimately, the USDA
predicts that produce prices will continue to rise.Other researchers have echoed the USDA’s conclusions regarding the
escalating prices of produce as a result of California’s historic
drought. For example, a study
conducted by Timothy Richards at the W.P. Carey School of Business at
Arizona State University predicts that the California drought could
increase avocado prices up to 28 percent. According to the USDA,
California produces 88 percent of avocadoes consumed throughout the
United States. The study also concluded that the price of lettuce could
increase between 62 cents and $2.44.

Richards believes that the most significant produce increases will
occur with “avocadoes, berries, broccoli, grapes, lettuce, melons,
peppers, tomatoes, and packaged salads.” Additionally, the California Farm Bureau has “projected that the average American family will spend about $500 more on food this year because of the drought.”Of course, estimations regarding potential food price increases are
not evaluated in a vacuum. Many other current events and factors play a
part in determining whether consumers will pay more or less for fresh
produce in the coming months. For example, the California Avocado Commission
reports that part of the reason for the increased price of avocados,
which rose 16 percent between 2013 and 2014, is the alternate bearing
cycle of avocado trees. One year, the tree will produce a high volume of
fruits, while producing substantially fewer fruits the following year.
In 2013, California’s avocado yield was estimated at 500 million pounds.
In 2014, total crop yield was projected at 350 million pounds.

Bridging the Gap with Imports from Abroad

Because California produces “nearly half of US-grown fruits, nuts and
vegetables,” finding sources from out of state to supplement the
drought’s impact on capacity is difficult. If the price of meat becomes
high, grocers can turn to other sources of protein, like eggs and fish,
to meet consumers’ needs. When it comes to fruits and vegetables,
however, there are no comparable replacements to meet consumers’ demand
for freshly grown food.Since foreign countries that rely on California agriculture to meet their produce needs, like Canada,
have started locating potential backup suppliers. Argentina, South
Africa, and Australia offer bustling agricultural economies that may
help foreign food importers bridge the gap caused by California’s
drought. One impediment to sourcing produce from these other countries,
however, is the tendency of certain produce, like lettuce and fruit, to
perish during the journey. For example, citrus fruits and potatoes can
be stored on a transatlantic cargo ship for over a week. Berries,
fruits, and lettuces, however, must be kept at low temperatures and
consumed within seven days.Despite the logistical hurdles that must be overcome when importing
produce from far away localities, some predict that California food
wholesalers, distributers, and grocers will have no choice but to import
food from Mexico, Central America, and South America. Current reports
indicate that a number of fruits, like peaches, are being imported from
Chile and are taking up a substantial share of California’s fruit
market. According to the United States Trade Representative, Chile was
the eighth largest source of agricultural imports for the United States
in 2013, providing fish, seafood, and $1.8 billion in edible fruits and
nuts. Mexico is the second largest supplier of agricultural imports for
the United States, providing $17.7 billion worth of fresh vegetables,
fruit, wine and beer, and snack foods. Canada is the largest source of
agricultural imports for the United States, totaling $21.8 billion.

STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE WATER LOSS

Despite the enormity of California’s drought crisis there are many
solutions and methodologies that can be used to help reduce water
consumption and to reduce the cost of each trip to the grocery store for
fruit and vegetables.

A New Water Paradigm Through Permaculture

At a more global level, a potential method for ensuring the optimization of water usage is Permaculture,
which integrates resources, people, land and the environment through
beneficial synergies. Permaculture enables farmers, urban
agriculturalists, and rooftop gardeners to imitate the “no waste, closed
loop systems” often observed in diverse natural ecosystems.
Permaculture utilizes holistic approaches to restoring balance in
ecosystems and ensuring that environmental assets, like land, water, and
air, are revitalized, recharged, and protected.When it comes to water management, the development and implementation
of a water management system is an necessity. According to Geoff
Lawton, it is about “gravity irrigation systems, water harvesting swales
and simple systems”, when talking about the Permaculture Research
Institute’s site going through his shires largest drought in
a hundred years. Geoff continues on to explain that “even though the
local village was cut off from water and water was issued in the street,
we were able to continue to irrigate all kinds of crops, because we had
an oversupply of water”.

Simple Ways to Save Water Around the House

One method that can be used to combat the current paradigm’s incredible water waste is a composting toilet.
Composting toilets require little-to-no water, which enables users to
cut their water bills drastically. A “dry composting converts human
fecal material into a soil-like humus, which is essentially odorless and
is scarcely 10 percent of the original volume.” Dry composting
facilities are typically emptied once a year, depending on size, making
them a low-maintenance way to fight water waste right in your home.Many features of our modern water paradigm are designed to perform one-time usages of
water. For example, “water enters a city, becomes contaminated with
human and industrial wastes, and leaves the city dangerously polluted.”
Current water systems allocate substantial amounts of water to the
clearing away of human waste, typically into a sewer system. The results
of this practice are devastating, and include disease, disruption of
nutrient cycles, river death, and the formation of so-called “dead
zones” in certain coastal areas.Many regions have implemented water treatment facilities designed to
make use of wastewater instead of dumping into lakes, rivers, or oceans.
In California, Orange County constructed a $481 million treatment plant
that converts sewage into water that is used to replenish local ground
aquifers. As the California drought continues to affect farmers and
other water users, the “flush and forget” system may become less common.Other ways to save water around the home include installing
water-efficient showerheads, toilets, laundry machines, and dishwashers.
In some localities, newly installed appliances must comply with water
efficiency requirements. If you cannot afford a low-flow toilet, simply
place one to two inches of pebbles inside the bottom of your water tank,
or fill two empty plastic bottles with rocks to weight hem down. This
strategy alone can save over ten gallons of water each day.
Additionally, do not let the water run while you clean produce. Fill the
sink or a pan with clean water instead.

Permaculture at Home

Until legislators and policymakers adopt policies that encompass the
full spectrum of water sources, individuals should consider implementing
permaculture practices right in their backyards, rooftops, and homes.
At its heart, permaculture is a design science that can be applied to
any human habitat no matter how small the space may be.
According to Lawton, city environments are
especially in need of the benefits that permaculture has to offer. A
city block requires a remarkable amount of power and electricity to feed
the many businesses, homes, and utilities that cover its acreage. One
of the greatest features of permaculture is that it can be implemented
in almost any setting or environments. There are ways to integrate
permaculture practices even for folks who live in apartments,
high-rises, or multi-tiered condos. For example, if you live in an
apartment that features a balcony, consider growing sprouts or
mushrooms.When it comes to reducing water waste in cities, permaculture
provides a method for ensuring that surplus water is returned to the
environment or redirected to another source that can make good use of
the water. For example, some cities have implemented permaculture
streets, which feature controlled water runoff from hard surfaces
towards gardens and other growing plants in need of hydration. Because
cities are often burgeoning centers of design and intricate landscapes,
they provide the perfect habitat for implementing creative permaculture
strategies.For homeowners, front and rear lawns represent ideal opportunities
for implementing and experimenting with permaculture methodologies. In
many cases, the amount of chemicals and treatments applied to lawns
surpasses agricultural activities. Homeowners should consider converting
up to half of their lawns to gardens or back to natural habitat. One of
the greatest benefits of planting a home garden is the readily
available bounty of fruits and vegetables that it provides. As
Californians and produce consumers around the world begin to feel the
drought’s impact on the price of fruits and vegetables, low-cost,
home-based solutions may provide a solution. Permaculture offers an
easy, efficient, and affordable way to grow produce right at home. To achieve ultimate synergy, permaculture focuses on the habits and
practices that characterize wild habitats like forests and pastures and
mimics them in a controlled environment. Forests typically feature many
different layers of vegetation growing side by side, including shrubs,
plants, and trees. Among these vegetation layers are insects and
animals. Each of these strands operate synergistically with one another
as an ecosystem. In permaculture, the integrated relationship between
all of these living things is known as a guild.
While traditional gardening practices teach individuals how to plant
gardens, permaculture focuses on equipping individuals to create and
maintain successful guilds right at home. Ultimately, permaculture is a
theory of design. Permaculture guilds typically have seven key
components: (1) food for humans; (2) food for the soil; (3) diggers and
miners; (4) groundcover; (5) climbers; (6) supporters; and (7)
protectors. Each of these components work together to create a thriving
synergistic system.Many water saving strategies
can be adopted for both permaculture gardens and traditional gardens.
First, only water a lawn when it needs watering. To see if your lawn is
in need of moisture, step on the grass. If the grass springs back up, it
does not need water. If it lays flat, the lawn could use a little
water. Intermittent deep-soakings are more effective at providing
moisture to parched soil instead of frequent light showers. Also, the
time of day that you choose to water can have an impact on how much of
that moisture reaches the garden or lawn’s roots. Try to water during
the night or early morning, and avoid watering when the sun is out or
when it is windy. Adding a thick layer of mulch near the base of plants
and tress can help retain moisture as it saturates through the soil.
Mulch is particularly helpful for gardens that rely on drip systems.
Composting is another helpful tool that can increase water retention. It
also provides a dose of minerals and nutrients to the soil and
vegetation. Many gardeners are surprised to learn that adding just one
pound of compost material can yield “40 pounds of water retention.”
Also, rain barrels can provide quick and easy surpluses of fresh water
during the rainy season, and add aesthetic character to your lawn or
garden.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Waste is rife in all ‘corners of the globe’. Be-it water,
sewage, medical, municipal, heat, distribution losses, negligence, inefficiency
or even sunshine. If only we could reduce wastes and unify our systems, we
could supply the ‘same for [much] less’.

The
sun is the biggest source of power known to man

Unfortunately
it is overlooked in many power projects

Salt
Ponds are Simple technology and well proven

Ideally
located near salt water

Inexpensive
and easily maintained

Useful
by products; salt and shrimps

Patented and passive purification technologies
to produce potable water; including small scale purification units for
villages.

Additional possibilities with fish farming in
side ponds

Additional
Ponds can be added as the development expands

Concept project

A very saline artificial lake can be utilised
as both a solar collector and solar energy storage medium. We have expertise
within this field and are seeking projects where this technology can be
utilised and scaled up to produce significant energy volumes.

The ideal location
closes to the sea in very high sunshine areas, with needs for both electricity
generation and water purification. Drinkable water will be available from this
station near the sea.

This innovative system will also allow the
user to produce sea-salt. This new salt is of a very good quality and will allow
the user to stop using and withdrawing salt from the lake. This dramatic
change will take some time and will protect the delicate Lake ecosystem in
the long run.

Furthermore this
same pond can harbour brine shrimps as a way to clean the water. This gives the
opportunity of a new source of revenue from marketing the shrimp.

Initially the salt
ponds will be filled with sea water or from the flood waters entering the Lake.
Zero Energy Systems[ZES or Sun Earth Energy -SEE] can advise on the construction and specification of such
ponds and to design these to power the development around Lake.

Technically the
water at the bottom of a solar salt pond can reach up to 95 oC. This
heat allows the production of electricity - dependent on the size of the solar
salt pond between 2-5MW of power can be produced continuously.

The real benefit is that the careful placing of differing types of bamboo into differing strata of a flood zone can provide a valuable harvesting of the nutrients washed out from the flood upstream. Not only will the roots of bamboo stabilise, it will trap sediments washed down. So there is a double function to start.

This has to be a key attribute to turn 'poor' quality landscapes into a fertile and productive resource for those working the land.

These types of planting will become the backbone of an holistic approach to the management of land. The need to stabilize and to add nutrients are paramount to productive farming. Just as the opposites are key factors in the despoiling of the local environment.